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First Edition: September 30, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about how new and old health policy positions are playing on the campaign trail.

30 Sep 2011

Longer looks: A surgeon examines his professional development

I've been a surgeon for eight years. For the past couple of them, my performance in the operating room has reached a plateau. I'd like to think it's a good thing-;I've arrived at my professional peak. But mainly it seems as if I've just stopped getting better. During the first two or three years in practice, your skills seem to improve almost daily. It's not about hand-eye coördination-;you have that down halfway through your residency.

30 Sep 2011

IOM offers additional ideas to revamp system of geographic adjustments to Medicare payments

The Institute of Medicine supplemented its earlier list of ideas for overhauling the system of geographic adjustments to Medicare payments with four more suggestions today.

30 Sep 2011

Roundup: Calif. legislator's health bill comes under scrutiny; D.C. facing doctor shortage

A few hours earlier, using an obscure parliamentary procedure, the senator had carved the contents out of a bill about local gas taxes and "amended" it into a proposal to warn women about breast cancer risks. It was now speeding through the statehouse so fast, and with so little scrutiny, that Sen. Joe Simitian would later be on the defensive about one significant effect: a possible multimillion-dollar windfall for a medical business in his district.

29 Sep 2011

Roundup: Conn.'s new insurance commissioner getting noticed; Miami-Dade County fires consulting firm over health care issue

Checking his watch, Thomas B. Leonardi worked quickly through his dense defense of this nation's state-by-state approach to insurance regulation. This small New England state generates more insurance business than all but a half-dozen nations. He sided with consumer advocates in March at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, helping to delay a federal regulation designed to protect fees for health insurance brokers. Advocates said the regulation would have driven up the costs of insurance to consumers.

28 Sep 2011

TPI revenue increases 48.9% to $95.2 million for fiscal year 2011

Tianyin Pharmaceutical Co., Inc., a pharmaceutical company that specializes in patented biopharmaceutical, modernized traditional Chinese medicine, branded generics and other pharmaceuticals, announced the financial results for the Fiscal Year 2011.

27 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: LA Times wants solutions from GOP candidates; WSJ finds worrisome census numbers

We've now seen three full-dress debates among the Republican politicians who want to be the next president of the United States, and here's what we've learned: They all believe taxes are too high, even though federal taxes are lower as a percentage of the U.S. economy than any time in the last 60 years. They all believe onerous environmental regulations are preventing economic recovery, though few economists would agree.

27 Sep 2011

Roundup: Patient dies after medical error during Calif. nurses strike; grocery workers ratify contract that had partially hinged on health care

Veteran nurses locked out of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland said Sunday that the death of a patient due to a medical error by a replacement worker wouldn't have happened if they had been allowed to do their jobs. The hospital's management countered that it was a freak accident that could have happened at any time -- with or without the replacement nurses. At the center of the dispute is a cancer patient, a woman who has not been identified but whose tragic death on Saturday has inflamed an already tense labor dispute.

27 Sep 2011

Mass. hospitals oppose state penalties for preventable readmissions

Also in state news, a California news outlet reports on the difficult challenge hospitals face trying to recover overdue bill in a tough economy and another looks at efforts by a handful of hospitals to partner with churches to help reduce health care costs.

22 Sep 2011

HHS spending bill stalled by House impasse

The Senate Appropriations Committee's consideration of the spending measure will likely be largely symbolic and the actual spending it covers will be handled later this year. The appropriations process, however, has been used by Republicans to attack the health law's funding.

22 Sep 2011

Loyola offers 15 minute emergency balloon angioplasty for heart attack patients

When 45-year-old Bobbie Jeske arrived at Loyola's ER with a massive, life-threatening heart attack, it took Dr. Fred Leya just 15 minutes to perform an emergency balloon angioplasty.

21 Sep 2011

Thermo Fisher Scientific cassette cuts tissue embedding time in half

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today introduced the Thermo Scientific SecureSette, a new cassette for histology laboratories that reduces embedding time by 50 percent. The innovative design of new SecureSette™ cassettes makes embedding extremely simple; tissues are orientated during grossing and the cassette is not opened during embedding. An integral sponge securely holds tissue in place during processing which not only improves orientation, but also reduces the time spent re-embedding incorrectly aligned samples by more than half. The result is a more efficient workflow, higher quality and improved patient safety without the need to purchase additional equipment.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 20 Sep 2011

Chronic diseases could cost $47 trillion over the next 20 years: Report

A latest report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) suggests that the global economic impact of the five leading chronic diseases -- cancer, diabetes, mental illness, heart disease, and respiratory disease - could reach $47 trillion over the next 20 years.

19 Sep 2011

Successful separation of twin girls joined at the head

British surgeons have successfully separated conjoined twin baby girls in a complex and extremely rare operation. Sudan-born Rital and Ritag Gaboura are craniopagus twins, meaning they were born joined at the head.

19 Sep 2011

Impact of Great Recession on low-income older workers

An expert panel speaking on Capitol Hill today demonstrated that the Great Recession has had a disproportionately negative impact on low-income older workers, although programs such as the federal Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) have managed to provide some valuable benefits to this disadvantaged demographic group.

19 Sep 2011

UAW says new pact with GM preserves health benefits

The United Automobile Workers and General Motors said late Friday that they had reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract. ... The union declined to give details but said the agreement included improved profit-sharing and "significant improvements to health care benefits".

19 Sep 2011

Increase in hospital births helps lower neonatal mortality rate in China, study says

A campaign that began in 2000 encouraging women in China to give birth in hospitals instead of at home helped cut the nation's neonatal mortality rate by 62 percent between 1996 and 2008, according to a study by researchers from Peking University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, BBC News reports.

17 Sep 2011

President's signing of America Invents Act a huge win for innovators

Today's historic signing of the America Invents Act represents a huge win for innovators and improves U.S. competiveness globally by aligning new patent laws more closely with those from other countries, said John Lechleiter, Ph.D., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eli Lilly and Company.

17 Sep 2011

Midwife shortages across UK

According to a warning from the Royal College of Midwives parts of England are facing a dangerous shortage of midwives as Britain's birthrate climbs. The RCM added that while shortages are seen across the country, some areas are worse than others, putting mothers and babies at risk.

16 Sep 2011

Census data trigger discussion about nation's uninsured population

The data, released yesterday, also focuses attention on issues of poverty in the United States, on the role of government programs and on the future of employer-sponsored insurance.

15 Sep 2011